Clarisse Crémer in the Vendée Globe - Week 7: A difficult day after Christmas
by L'Occitane Sailing Team 27 Dec 16:24 GMT
27 December 2024
Clarisse Crémer in the Vendée Globe - Week 7 © Clarisse Crémer / L'Occitane Sailing Team
Has Santa Claus forgotten Clarisse Crémer? Is Point Nemo beyond the reach of the magic of the festive season?
After a Christmas Eve marred by the disappointment of having missed the front line, 25 December aboard L'Occitane en Provence was marked by the - hopefully temporary - loss of the two onboard computers. On Boxing Day she seems to have attracted the attention of the Grinch and the bogeyman, who have taken it in turns to prowl around the blue and yellow IMOCA boat...
It's as if the sky is falling again. After an initial blow last Tuesday, when after a catalogue of events her mainsail hook car decided to give up, preventing her from catching the front which was to take her all the way to Cape Horn, and enable her to catch up with the group ahead, the troubles continue for Clarisse Crémer.
She had nevertheless achieved the feat of managing to mourn this missed opportunity, with music, her favourite biscuits and the Coué Method, repeating "We're happy!" over and over again, even though it's "hard to see the others at the front go". Happy to still be in the race and ready to celebrate the festive season, on Monday she was trying on Christmas headgear on the other side of the world as she rounded the Antipodes archipelago. Admitting that she was "a little out of phase", stuck in a ridge of high pressure, surrounded by eternal greyness and tossed about in seas that were still very rough, the skipper even laughed at this time of year, assuring us that "ridicule doesn't kill you" and remained "the least of (her) worries", busy as she was fighting against the cold and preparing to face the violent lows that were set to mark out her route towards the South American continent.
Blue Thursday
With her "morale at zero as far as the weather was concerned", Clarisse Crémer thought her luck had finally changed on Tuesday 24th December, like a Christmas present before its time, when she managed to repair her mainsail attachment system once and for all... and picked up some wind enabling her to make a direct course eastwards: "We're back on track, making 23 knots of speed!" Enough to recharge the batteries, and the morale, before being "smashed" by a violent low-pressure system, which she had anticipated well and knew how to negotiate. But that was without taking into account a water leak in the "swans neck", the junction between the mast cabling and the inside of the cockpit, which drowned her two onboard computers... "As is always the case with Murphy's Law, I had my two PCs out,' she explains. Because at the start of the race I had PC problems, I had them installed one on top of the other, ready to be swapped. And like an idiot, I didn't put the spare PC back, so that it would be ready for use if the main one started to act up again. I must admit, I hadn't thought about the chance of water ingress at that point. As a result, both took on water and I no longer have an onboard computer. Nor any navigation software apart from a version on an iPad."
No gifts at Point Nemo
While the weather conditions are strengthening and she is sailing in a very unstable wind of between 25 and 35 knots, which is set to increase to between 30 and 40 knots, Clarisse is navigating "on the iPad", using software that is far less comprehensive than her usual software, Adrena. "I don't have my 'targets' and I have to be careful to respect the no-go zones and to be extra vigilant for weather spells. I'll get used to it, I'll find solutions if I need to, but what's hard is that it's a real pleasure for me to do my routing, and I find myself at 20% of my usual capacity for meteorological reflection". Unable to carry out any detailed analysis or cogitate on the best strategy to adopt, forced for the moment to go where her summary application tells her to, the performance aspect is not the only thing on Clarisse's mind. Safety is at the heart of her concerns, with a storm looming and repairs on the agenda for the next few hours.
"Today's quiz: what activity would you dream of doing on an IMOCA, at Point Nemo, in the middle of the Southern Ocean, with 30 to 35 knots of wind and 5 to 6 metres of swell?" In spite of everything, Clacla, with her unfailing sense of humour, ironises. "I chose electronics! It's totally suitable!" The hope remains for the skipper and her team to 'resurrect' one of her two computers, by combining different components and processors to create a 'two-in-one' PC. "I'm trying to dry out the one that has taken on the most water, but which wasn't switched on at the time and which therefore has a small chance of still being alive, she hopes. I've taken it apart and I'm keeping it warm, in a bag beside the engine air outlet. Fine electrical work like this isn't my cup of tea normally, and on a boat like this... it's pretty hard work!"
When Benji replaces Sammy
Little consolation in all these adventures? Enjoying the company of Benjamin Dutreux, back in her transom, at the moment of separating from her 'partner' Samantha Davies, who opted for a northerly route to avoid the worst of the storm: "I'm glad to have someone alongside. I had the impression that there were also a lot of waves to the North, perhaps a little less wind, but a lot of waves too. In any case, I no longer have the tools to choose the best route; it's typically the kind of decision I can no longer make." The prospect of rounding Cape Horn on New Year's Eve, just after celebrating her 35th birthday, could also heal the wounds, in more manageable conditions, by day and with land insight perhaps? A reward commensurate with the efforts made, which we hope will be well deserved!